Crazycajuns new build 150 gal

[Crazycajun]

Well I am starting my first salt water FOWLR. It is 60x24x24 150 gallon. Pictures to come soon. Have a wet/ dry sump setup. Got Marco rocks and aragonite sand coming In soon. Along with my heater and test kits.


I am wanting to put all dry rock and convert it to live over time. I plan on putting Dr Tims one and only to get the bacteria started In my tank along with the ammonia drops. After I do this and I get all of the parameters right how long until I can add my CUC?

Will be using my ro/di system to start filling my tank next week I hope. I am Producing water to clean the rocks and sand before putting it In my tank right now.


Thanks for any help you can provide. More info and pictures to come soon.

[Crazycajun]

Can anyone give me ideas on how to make nice dry rock aquascape? I am trying to get the coral glue product but it has not come I'n yet. I am wanting to secure the rocks so they would not fall.

[SHARPiE]

Tagging along for the ride.
Hold out for the glue - the wait is worth it in this game.

[Crazycajun]

Here is the tank setup so far. Along with some pictures. Please let me know if you see any issues this is my first salt water setup. Also is the rock formation ok?

Sealife Systems 300 Wet/Dry
Pro clear impact 200 Skimmer CA-3000 pump
Two Sicce Syncra Silent 4.0 return pumps
Two Korallia Evolution 1400's
Marineland reef Capable 48-60 LED.

[paulweck]

Nice setup... I think your rock looks great keep the updates coming

[Crazycajun]

I am producing the water right now to wash my sand. After I do that I will start producing the water for the tank.

My plan is to get the water in. Then get about 10 pounds cured live rock to seed the dry rocks. Then I will test the ammonia to see where it is with the live rock. If it is at or below 2ppm then I will add the DR TIM's ONE and ONLY to the tank to start the Bacteria. If the live rock does not bring the ammonia to 2ppm I will add the Ammonium Chloride drops provided by Dr Tim's.

Hope this all goes great. Thanks for all the help in Advance.

[Crazycajun]

Is it ok to prewash Aragonite sand with tap water? I have so much sand and it woud take so much Ro/di water. Anyone use tap water to clean sand? I was thinking to clean it real well I would put it in a 5 gallon bucket and clean the sand until the water over flows clear. Then let it dry in the sun to try to remove anything from the tap water.

Any thoughts?

[carey]

I bet most people would say to rinse with ro water, but I recently had to rinse 250lbs of sand so I used regular old outside faucet water. I did it in buckets til it ran clear, bout 20lbs at a time.

Good luck

[adeian]

I'd think that regular tap water would be fine to rinse the sand too. I did that with all my base rock then let it dry off overnight.

I've learned from reading the posts here that you might want to ditch the bioballs in the sump though. I guess they cause nitrate problems down the road.

[Loraaf]

Good luck! Following! Love the rock setup so far.

[Crazycajun]

Thanks for the comment. I hear that also about the bio balls but I dont want to buy another sump. Any ideas on how to edit it? I also learned that as long as I clean 1/4 of the bio balls every time I change the water this will help with the nitrate issues..

[vitacrux]

The only thing I worry about is with gluing that much rock together how would you ever remove it if you needed to for some reason, unless you just glued in small sections.

[adeian]

I honestly don't know really. I actually think that being a nirate factory would be a good thing as it means you have a lot of ammonia and nitrite eating bugs and you keep up with the nitrate doing water changes. But I've only been doing SW for a year or so.

I had bio balls in my 30g SW and everything was fine until one day I did a water change and general cleaning of everything. My nitrates went from 5 ppm to 160 ppm and I lost a couple fish. Reading through here pointed me to the bio balls being the problem.

My new 90g has a sump with a filter bag to catch all the big stuff, skimmer, bubble trap and LR rubble. I've also got a lot of LR in the DT and 150 pounds of live sand.

I forgot to mention, I love your rocks! I've got no creativity at all in that area. After seeing yours I've got to get back to rearranging my tank.

[Smitty]

Just as an aside I have a Sicce 5.0 pump for my tank. Seems pretty quiet but it was a PAIN to get those little suction cup feet on it!

Also with the bio balls, some people do still use them and love them. I've decided to go without. If you are wanting to go without you can just put live rock in the section you now have the bio balls in, it would do basically the same thing but would trap less debris. The reason the bio balls are nitrate factories (as I understand it) is that they trap debris and that keeps breaking down causing the excess.

[jsmith]

Originally Posted by Crazycajun

Well I am starting my first salt water FOWLR. It is 60x24x24 150 gallon. Pictures to come soon. Have a wet/ dry sump setup. Got Marco rocks and aragonite sand coming In soon. Along with my heater and test kits.

I am wanting to put all dry rock and convert it to live over time. I plan on putting Dr Tims one and only to get the bacteria started In my tank along with the ammonia drops. After I do this and I get all of the parameters right how long until I can add my CUC?

Will be using my ro/di system to start filling my tank next week I hope. I am Producing water to clean the rocks and sand before putting it In my tank right now.

Thanks for any help you can provide. More info and pictures to come soon.

I personally don't believe in using anything to jump start cycle if u want a good amount bacteria id say get that ammonia nice and high for a while.. then let you tank do its job.. might take longer to finish the cycle but at least u know its there...just imho..

Id rince ur stand in tap. Don't think it would hurt

[Crazycajun]

Originally Posted by vitacrux

The only thing I worry about is with gluing that much rock together how would you ever remove it if you needed to for some reason, unless you just glued in small sections.

Yes I just glued only rocks that were unstable. Only about 3 rocks.

[Ibrahim]

If you ever wanted the look of a reeftank there is this one website that sells large replica backgrounds for FOWLR and FW tanks and from what ive seen it looks amazing. I'll catch the name of site as I can't remember it now.

[Crazycajun]

Originally Posted by Ibrahim

If you ever wanted the look of a reeftank there is this one website that sells large replica backgrounds for FOWLR and FW tanks and from what ive seen it looks amazing. I'll catch the name of site as I can't remember it now.

I painted the background black. Thanks.

[Ibrahim]

lol what I was talking about was 3D coral backgrounds this is the website CL2CqOvW6qkCFY5x5QodMh3caw

[Ibrahim]

Srry I mean this link http://www.instantreef.com/?gclid=CI...FSI55Qod-TZYaA